Nation wants to know: Arnab Goswami gets a legal notice for the phrase

Goswami says the phrase belonged to the people and not to any media group

 

#LATEST| Who owns “nation wants to know”? That seems to be the question that will probably be answered by the courts. The catch-phrase popularised by former Times Now anchor, Arnab Goswami has become a bone of contention now.

According to a report in the newspaper Mint, Times Group has sent a legal notice to Arnab Goswami asking him not to use the phrase on his own news channel “Republic TV”. Arnab Goswami’s new channel has been in the news ever since it was announced late last year but its much anticipated launch has been delayed due to unspecified reasons.

Times Now is a channel owned by the Times Group and they contend that “nation wants to know” is their intellectual property. Goswami became synonymous with the use of this phrase.

Arnab has released an audio clip on YouTube informing people that he has received this notice. He has not revealed the name of the group that has sent him the notice. “A media group has sent me a six-page letter threatening me with imprisonment if I ever use the phrase ‘Nation wants to know’. They say that they own the phrase.”

He further explained that the phrase belongs to “you, to me and to all of us, every citizen of this country. Every Indian has a right to use that phrase. And this phrase comes from the heart. Every Indian, through his or her questioning spirit, can use the phrase Nation Wants to Know.”

He says the media group has been trying to delay the launch of Republic TV.

“ARG Outliers had filed for trademark for these and similar phrases which were already filed for and extensively used for years by Times Now. We have responded with a standard caution notice. He (Arnab) is just trying to gain soundbytes from it,” a spokesperson for the Times Network informed Mint.

In the run-up to the launch of the show, Goswami has been travelling to various colleges across India, talking about his own “style of journalism”. Republic TV is owned by Arnab Goswami’s own company, ARG Outlier Media. NDA MP Rajeev Chandrashekhar is the biggest investor in Republic TV.| READ MORE...

4G data war: Airtel, Vodafone, Idea counter Reliance Jio with these offers

Telecom industry is witnessing the greatest tariff war of all times

 

Last year, Mukesh Ambani, the Chairman and MD of Reliance Industries Ltd launched Reliance Jio services offering free VoLTE-based voice calls, apps, sms and high-speed 4G data. Soon after, the incumbents like Airtel, Vodafone and Idea faced the heat that led to the greatest tariff war in telecom sector of all times.

Now, when Reliance Jio trial offer giving free services is over and the telecom major is offering ultra-affordable plans and recharge options to provide free voice, sms, apps and high-speed 4G data, the other telecom giants such as Airtel, Vodafone and Idea are not leaving any loose ends to fight the competition by offering additional 4G data and free calls in existing postpaid and prepaid plans.

Here are the current plans that the telecom giants are offering:

Reliance Jio

Reliance Jio is currently offering three recharge offers to its prime users.

Rs 149 plan: The subscriber gets 2 GB high-speed 4G data for 28 days. In addition, there are free voice calls, Jio apps and 300 sms bundled with the offer.

Rs 309 offer: The subscriber gets 1 GB high-speed 4G data per day for 28 days. In addition, there are free voice calls, sms and Jio apps bundled with the offer.

Rs 509 offer: The subscriber gets 2 GB high-speed 4G data per day complimentary for 28 days. In addition, there are free voice calls, sms and Jio apps bundled with the offer.

For non-Prime members, the telecom operator is offering the above-mentioned plans at Rs 408 and Rs 608 (Jio Prime membership fee and regular recharge price).

The above-mentioned plans are not available for customers already registered for Jio Summer Surprise offer.

Airtel

Postpaid

Airtel is offering up to 30 GB of additional free data for the next three months. The offer can be availed using 'My Airtel' app by April 30. The offer is valid for users who joined Airtel network before 28 February.

Prepaid

Rs 399 plan: Under this pack, users will get 1 GB data per day only if they have a 4G smartphone and SIM card. The free calls incentive comes with a 3,000 minutes cap for a 70-day period. When the minutes gets exhausted, users will be charged Rs 0.10 a minute. For Airtel-Airtel calls, the limit is 300 minutes per day, but 1,200 minutes is the maximum consumption per week.

Rs 345 plan: From 1 GB data per day, Airtel is now offering 2 GB data for the same amount. Similar to the Rs 399 plan, users get the same free calls benefit with a cap. Where earlier, users were restricted to 500 megabyte (MB) from 12am-6pm and the other 500 MB available for rest of the day, the offer now holds no such limitation.

Rs 244 plan: For 4G smartphone and 4G SIM card users, one can get 1 GB date per day for 70 days under fair usage policy. Although, the offer claims to provide unlimited free STD and local calls, uers get 1,200 minutes on calls made to other networks and 300 minutes of free Airtel to Airtel. Upon full consumption of the free minutes, users will be charged Rs 0.10 per minute.| READ FULL STORY

Time for PM to speak up as abandoned wives outnumber Triple Talaq victims

Women staying in marriage is highest amongst Muslims compared to Hindus and Christians

 

#LATEST| The life of every woman unilaterally separated from her spouse is pathetic. They face challenges and constraints both in their marital and natal families.

The RSS-affiliated Rashtrawadi Muslim Mahila Sangh approached the Supreme Court of India through an application in June for codification of ‘Muslim personal law’, especially to end practices such as polygamy and triple talaq, or instantaneous divorce. The court in October sought the opinion and recommendation of the Government of India on these issues. The government responded that the absence of reforms in the (Muslim) community during the past 65 years has left Muslim women “extremely vulnerable, both socially as well as financially”. Almost immediately on October 24, 2016 Prime Minister Narendra Modi condemned the practice of the so-called ‘triple talaq system’. Addressing a rally in Bundelkhand, Uttar Pradesh, he stated that “no injustice should be meted out to our mothers and sisters in the name of religion or community.”

At first glance, this seems like a happy moment for the Muslims of India that even the BJP and its cultural mascot, the RSS, intends to improve the conditions of Muslim women; an indication, surely, that one day this will do good for Muslim men as well.

What the data shows

Yet, our happiness was shattered when we did a little research using data from the Census of India – 2011. This analysis raises the following questions: Is the Muslim women’s condition in India as pathetic as the Modi government, the RSS and other surrogates claim it to be? Are Muslim women socially and financially “extremely vulnerable” – as mentioned in the government’s affidavit to the Supreme Court? And how is their situation compared to their sisters from the Hindu, Christian and other religious communities? Since no credible data was put forth as evidence – neither in the government affidavit nor in the prime minister’s speech – it is useful to see what the census data tells us.

We have analysed data from the ‘Marital Status by Religious Community and Sex – 2011’ C3 table of the census in order to try and establish what the empirical position is.

Our principal finding is that the situation of Indian Muslim women seems far better than women from other religious groups.

For example, the percentage of women staying in marriage is highest amongst Muslims (87.8%) compared to Hindus (86.2%), Christians (83.7%) and other religious minorities (85.8%).

The percentage of widowed women is least amongst Muslims (11.1%) compared to Hindus (12.9%), Christians (14.6%) and other religious Minorities (13.3%). It is likely that the culture of widow remarriages provides a higher level of family protection to Muslim women compared to women from other religious communities.

The percentage of separated and abandoned women is also least amongst the Muslims (0.67%) compared to Hindus (0.69%), Christians (1.19%) and other religious Minorities (0.68%).

The same census data suggests that the divorced women percentage is higher amongst the Muslims at 0.49% and Christians at 0.47% compared to other religious minorities (0.33%) and the Hindus, at 0.22%. The practice of getting a divorce amongst the Hindus is traditionally non-existent. Out of 340 million ever-married women 9.1 lakhs are divorced and amongst them 2.1 lakhs are Muslims.

The process of talaq (divorce) is clearly laid down in the Holy Quran, which is against triple talaq. The triple talaq was an exception rather than a rule under special circumstance. Divorce is not a whim. Both men and women are required to follow a process that involves at least three months (or three menstrual cycles) after separation and reconciliation efforts fail. The logic is twofold; if the woman can bear a child, the system wants to ensure that she is not pregnant and if she were, child support has to be figured in. The other reason is to allow each other to find a place to live and not get thrown on the street.

READ MORE....

Why are Indians boycotting Snapchat? Everything you need to know

People mistakenly uninstalled Snapdeal instead of Snapchat

 

Snapchat has been in the news for all the wrong reasons over the weekend ever since CEO Evan Spiegel allegedly claimed that he is not interested in expanding the platform's user base in 'poor countries like India and Spain'. 

This lead to a huge uproar in India, especially on social media forums. People not only ridiculed Snapchat for the remarks but also began a boycott campaign on Twitter and began to uninstall the app on their phones. Here is what exactly happened.

According to a report published in Variety, the CEO while discussing expansion plans in a meeting allegedly dismissed an employee's concern of the slow growth rate of the app in India, stating that the app was only meant for 'rich people'.

As reported earlier, According to one of the employees, Spiegel had during a meeting said, "This app is only for rich people. I don't want to expand into poor countries like India and Spain." It is rumoured that this comment was made by Spiegel in 2015.

After reports of Spiegel's alleged claims of Snapchat being a 'rich people's app' surfaced, Indian users took to Twitter to express their dissent over the comment. 

Hashtags like #BycottSnapchat and UnistallSpachat were trending on Twitter.

Soon after Variety published the alleged comment, the app's ratings on Google play store and other such platforms witnessed a sharp decline, a 4.4 to a 3.6 rating. Furthermore, the number of one-star rating by the users shot up from 39,102 to 192,906 in just 24 hours.

Others took action on the Apple App store, driving the ratings of the App to one star and bombarding it with sarcastic reviews.| READ MORE...

Update details to link PAN and Aadhaar, mismatch leads to failure

Difference of even a single alphabet in the names given means linking won't happen

#LATEST | From July 1, 2017, all tax returns will have to mention the Aadhaar number, according to the newly-introduced Section 139AA of the Income Tax Act. If you have both PAN and Aadhaar, you need to link the two. If you fail to do so, your PAN number could become invalid. Many people are, however, facing difficulties in linking these two databases.

When you try to link Aadhaar with PAN, three things need to match: name, year of birth and gender. If any of these details don't match, the linking fails. Many people are having problems because their names are different in the two databases. Some have used initials in their names in the PAN card. "The Aadhaar database does not allow initials. It accepts only full names. During the linking process, the names in the two databases need to match alphabet by alphabet. If there is a difference of even a single alphabet, the linking fails. People from South India in particular are facing a lot of problems because of the use of initials in PAN," says Chetan Chandak, head-tax research, H&R Block. People who have abbreviated their middle name in PAN (for instance, Kumar shortened to K) while using the full form in Aadhaar are also encountering problems.

The third category facing difficulties is people with special characters in their names. For instance, a surname like D'Souza has an apostrophe. While the PAN database accepts special characters, the Aadhaar database doesn't, causing a mismatch.

Women who have changed their surnames after marriage are also having difficulty. They may have got their Aadhaar before marriage and PAN after marriage, or vice versa. As the two documents have different names, they are unable to link them.

Finally, people who have gone abroad to work and don't yet have an Aadhaar card will also face a problem in filing their tax return this year. "You have to get your biometrics registered to obtain an Aadhaar card and that is possible only in India," says Naveen Wadhwa, deputy general manager, Taxmann.| read more....

AAP vs BJP: Delhi's local polls arouse national interest

While BJP has made the elections a matter of prestige, AAP's national prospects hinge on these

#LATEST| A few days before the Punjab Assembly elections, parties in opposition, mainly the Congress, managed to plant an element of doubt in voters’ minds about the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP’s) performance in Delhi. 

The Opposition ran a concerted campaign that the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government had failed to deliver on most governance issues, beside being at loggerheads with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government at the Centre. Many were persuaded that the Narendra Modi government would deny funds and resources to Punjab if AAP won the state.

This took the wind out of AAP’s sails and the party lost its strong momentum before the polling.

All eyes are now trained at the elections, on April 23, to the three municipal corporations in Delhi. Currently, the BJP rules all the three — East, South and North civic bodies.

These local bodies are mainly tasked with the work of clearing garbage, primary education and primary health care. And, the elections are being keenly observed by both AAP sympathisers and other parties across the country.

Both the AAP supporters and those on the fence would take the results as a referendum on the AAP performance in Delhi. Political parties not currently part of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the Centre would see it as either a rise or fall of another opposition force. Loss for AAP is likely to further compel regional satraps to form a rainbow coalition against the NDA government before the 2019 general election.

AAP leaders agree a win in the civic elections would consolidate their position. “AAP is an alternative party. A win in these elections will further strengthen the faith of AAP supporters,” says Dilip Pandey, convenor of its Delhi unit.

There is a sense in the AAP leadership that the BJP and the Congress are in a ‘friendly fight’ in the Delhi elections, aimed to keep their party out. A similar rumour kept circulating during the Punjab Assembly election. “The Congress should have highlighted the BJP’s failure in the civic bodies. The BJP is fighting the elections not on the basis of their achievements in the past 10 years but on mudslinging. The BJP is scared, as its councillors are facing anti-incumbency, and they have failed,” alleges Pandey.

The BJP has made the elections a matter of prestige, involving the party’s national president Amit Shah and several cabinet and state chief ministers. The party has replicated the Gujarat style of election fighting by denying poll tickets to most of its incumbent councillors. The BJP is expecting to win on Prime Minister Modi’s popularity, similar to its success in the recent elections in five states. The aim would be to contain AAP to a minimum, as happened with the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh.

The BJP’s aggressive stance has forced AAP on the back foot. Instead of riding on Kejriwal’s popularity, the party has formed around 4,000 teams for door-to-door campaigning, is to reach at least four million households. These teams are to explain to people that most of the promises made before the Delhi assembly election in 2015 have been fulfilled. These include reducing power bills by half, providing free water supply up to 20,000 litres a month and free education loan up to Rs 10 lakh. 

The AAP government also raised the minimum wage for unskilled workers from Rs 9,724 to Rs 13,350 a month, for semi-skilled workers from Rs 10,764 to Rs 14,968 and for skilled workers from Rs 11,830 to Rs 16,182. The pension for senior citizens, persons with disability and widows was increased by Rs 1,000 a month. 

Read More...

Take note! Petrol, diesel prices to change every day from May 1

Daily price change will remove big leaps in rates that need to be effected at end of fortnight

 

Come May 1, petrol and diesel prices will change every day in sync with international rates, much like what happens in most advanced markets.

State-owned fuel retailers Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL), which own over 95 per cent of nearly 58,000 petrol pumps in the country, will launch a pilot for daily price revision in five select cities from May 1 and gradually extend it to all over the country.

"Ultimately, we will be driving towards market linked rates on a daily basis at all pumps across the country," IOC Chairman B Ashok told PTI.

A pilot for daily revision of petrol and diesel price will be first implemented in Puducherry, Vizag in Andhra Pradesh, Udaipur in Rajasthan, Jamshedpur in Jharkhand and Chandigarh, he said.

State fuel retailers currently revise rates on 1st and 16th of every month based on average international price of the fuel in the preceding fortnight and currency exchange rate.

Instead of using fortnightly average, pump rates will reflect daily movement in international oil prices and rupee- US dollar fluctuations.

"It is technically possible to change rates daily but we have to first do a pilot. Once pilot is done and its implications studied, we will extend it to other parts of the country," he said.

While Ashok said the pilot is to be "launched within one month" and did not give a specific date, industry sources said the pilot is planned to be launched on May 1.

Daily price change will remove the big leaps in rates that need to be effected at the end of the fortnight and consumer will be more aligned to market dynamics.

While petrol price was freed from government control in June 2010, diesel rates were deregulated in October 2014. Technically, oil companies have freedom to revise rates but often they have been guided by political considerations.

Rates differ by only a few paise between pumps of the three state fuel retailers. Unbranded petrol at IOC pumps in Delhi costs Rs 66.29 per litre, while the same at BPCL pumps in the city is priced at Rs 66.37 a litre. HPCL pumps sell for Rs 66.48 per litre.

(READ MORE)

Reliance Jio brings in new offer for Prime members; Airtel sees red

Airtel calls it 'old wine in a new bottle'

 

Barely a week after the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) asked Reliance Jio to withdraw its complimentary offer, the telecom operator on Tuesday announced a new plan of 1 GB 4G data for three months at Rs 309 for its Prime members.

Rival Airtel, however, dubbed it as a case of “old wine in a new bottle.”

Announcing its new offer, Jio said under the Rs 309 plan, it would provide “unlimited SMS, calling and data (1GB per day at 4G speed) for three months on the first recharge”. For Rs 509, the company is offering unlimited SMS, calling and double the data (2GB per day) for three months on the first recharge.

“Considering the special benefits that are available to Jio Prime members, customers who were unable to subscribe to Jio Prime for any reason can continue to do so by paying Rs 408 or Rs 608 (Jio Prime and recharge price) to avail these benefits,” said Jio in a statement.

The benefits of the plan would be available right away. Jio customers who have not got their first recharge, need to do so by 15 April.

Objecting to the offer, incumbent Bharti Airtel hoped that the “authority (Trai) will act against this provocative disregard of their direction”.

“We are surprised to see what Jio is doing. It violates the spirit of the Trai directive and essentially continues with a similar plan now masquerading under a different name. This is a classic example of old wine in a new bottle," an Airtel spokesperson said.| read more

Flipkart's Bansals are officially out of the billionaire club

Net worth may have dropped to $870 mn after Flipkart's latest funding

 

Flipkart co-founders Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal are no longer a part of the billionaire club after the company closed a $1.4-billion funding round.

The two men, in their mid-thirties, became India’s first start-up billionaires after Flipkart closed a $700-million round, at a valuation of $15.2 billion, in July 2015. Forbes had then reported they owned 7.5 per cent each in the company, making each of them worth $1.15 billion.

However, with Flipkart’s latest funding round seeing its valuation drop by a little over 23 per cent to $11.6 billion, and if the shareholding of each founder hasn’t changed, their net worth will drop to around $870 million. 

Considering that the company was forced to go in for a fresh funding round, the founders’ shareholding is likely to have been diluted further. Hence, it’s clear they are out of the billionaire club.| read more...

Cyber attack on Union Bank of India is similar to Bangladesh heist - WSJ

The attempt closely resembled cybertheft last year of more than $81 mn from Bangladesh central bank

A cyber attack on Union Bank of India last July began after an employee opened an email attachment releasing malware that allowed hackers to steal the state-run bank's data, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.

The attempt closely resembled the cybertheft last year of more than $81 million from the Bangladesh central bank's account at the New York Federal Reserve, the paper reported.

The opening of the email attachment, which looked like it had come from India's central bank, initiated the malware that hackers used to steal Union Bank's access codes for the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), a system that lenders use for international transactions.

The codes were used to send transfer instructions for about $170 million to a Union Bank account at Citigroup Inc in New York.| read more....

Tendulkar, Rekha worst in attendance among 12 nominated Rajya Sabha MPs

While Tendulkar has attended 23 of the 348 days since his nomination in 2012, Rekha has attended 18

 

Former India cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and yesteryear actress Rekha are the worst performers in attendance in the Rajya Sabha (upper house of Parliament) among the 12 nominated members, according to an analysis by Factly.in, a data journalism portal.

While Tendulkar has attended 23 of the 348 days since his nomination in 2012, Rekha has attended 18. Further, Rekha has not attended more than a single day in any session since her nomination in 2012.

While Rekha attended the least number of days compared to those who were nominated along with her, the expenditure incurred on her is the highest till date: Rs 65 lakh as salary and expenses. Expenditure incurred on Tendulkar is Rs 58.8 lakh, according to Rajya Sabha data.

 

This translates to an expenditure of Rs 360,000 per day incurred on Rekha and Rs 256,000 per day on Tendulkar.
The difference in the expenditure is only because of the allowances, since all other components are fixed for every member (MP). If a particular MP attended the house more often than others and has travelled more extensively than others, the expenditure incurred on him/her would be high. In Rekha’s case, it is the opposite.

Each MP is entitled to the following:

• Salary (Rs 50,000 per month)
• Constituency allowance (Rs 45,000 per month)
• Office expense allowance (Rs 15,000 per month)
• Travel & Daily Allowance (TA/DA) (variable)

There are 12 nominated members in the Rajya Sabha. While two other MPs were nominated in 2012 along with Tendulkar and Rekha, one was nominated in 2014 and the remaining seven were nominated in 2016. Four of the nominated members joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and are counted as BJP members in the house. A nominated member can join a political party within the first six months of being nominated to the house, according to the rules.

12 Nominated Rajya Sabha MPs

Name	Date of Nomination	Field	Party
Anu Aga	4/27/12	Industrialist	Nominated
Rekha	4/27/12	Actress	Nominated
Sachin Tendulkar	4/27/12	Cricketer	Nominated
K Parasaran	6/29/12	Lawyer	Nominated
K T S Tulsi (Sal since March 2014)	2/25/14	Lawyer	Nominated
Sambhaji Chhatrapati	6/13/16	Social Worker	BJP
Swapan Das Gupta	4/25/16	Journalist	Nominated
Roopa Ganguly	10/4/16	Actress	BJP
Narendra Jadhav	4/25/16	Economist	Nominated
M C Mary Kom	4/25/16	Sports Person	Nominated
Suresh Gopi	4/25/16	Actor	BJP
Subramanian Swamy	4/25/16	Politician	BJP

These members are nominated by the President based on the advice of the government of the day. Article 80(3) of the Constitution of India authorises the President to nominate a maximum of 12 members to the Rajya Sabha, and the members nominated shall have special knowledge or practical experience in the fields of literature, science, art and social service.(READ FULL STORY)

25,000 petrol pumps to shut shop on Sundays from 14 May

CIPD supports PM's vision for reduction in fuel usage while AIPD distanced itself from such a move

 

#LATEST| A section of petroleum dealers said they would shut their retail outlets every Sunday starting May 14. Many see this as a tactic to pressure government for higher commission.

The Consortium of Indian Petroleum Dealers (CIPD) on Monday asked members to shut shop on Sundays, in line with the prime minister's vision to reduce fuel consumption. The association claims to have more than 25,000 petrol pumps covering south and Maharashtra. All India Petroleum Dealers' Association came out in the public distancing itself from the decision.

The move by CIPD comes at a time when the government is yet to take a call on raising dealer's commission.

CIPD president A D Sathyanarayan told Business Standard that, except for emergency services like ambulance, fuel will not be available for other vehicles on Sundays. The association is also considering eight-hour working days from May.

Distancing itself from the move, president of All India Petroleum Dealers' Association Ajay Bansal said, "This will create panic. The association that has called for such a move has presence in only Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Maharashtra. We are not supporting this decision, while we also have the same demands to increase (dealer's commission)."| READ MORE 

Central Bank of India customer wins Rs 1 cr under Modi's cashless scheme

6 winners under the two promotion schemes were given their prizes by President Pranab Mukherjee

#LATEST: A transaction of Rs 1,590 has bagged a Central Bank of India customer a lucky bounty of Rs 1 crore under the Modi government's promotional scheme to popularise digital payments.

President Pranab Mukherjee picked up the lucky winners from the 100th draw of lots under digital payments promotion schemes at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.

He congratulated the six winners — three consumers and three merchants — under the Lucky Grahak Yojana and Digi Dhan Vyapar Yojana.

In the consumer section, the first mega prize of Rs 1 crore went to a customer of Central Bank of India, while the second prize of Rs 50 lakh went to a Bank of Baroda customer. A customer of Punjab National Bank is the winner of third prize of Rs 25 lakh.

All the three customers had conducted transactions using their RuPay debit cards. The names of three winners were not yet known as the draw only displayed their transaction numbers. These will be matched with card details to identify the winners.

Three merchants also won prizes of Rs 50 lakh, Rs 25 lakh and Rs 12 lakh, respectively.

The winners will be felicitated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 14 at Nagpur on the occasion of Ambedkar Jayanti.

Following demonetisation of old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes on November 9 last year, the government took a slew of measures to promote digital payments in the country.

The government launched the Lucky Grahak Yojana for consumers and Digi Dhan Vyapar Yojana for merchants on December 25, 2016, to promote digital transactions. These schemes are being implemented by the National Payment Corporation of India.

In his address, Mukherjee asked citizens to extend their unstinted support to the mission of a less-cash India.

"India has a long way to go to become a cash less society. The initiatives of the government are a good beginning and we need to sustain and nurture these with active participation from all segments of the society. It is necessary to reduce cash in circulation and impart greater urgency to promoting secure digital payment methods to ensure greater transparency," the President said.

Presently, India remains a primarily cash-based economy with about 95 per cent of the personal consumption and 86 per cent of all transactions being conducted via cash.

(READ MORE)

Link your Aadhaar with PAN through ID proof scan, one-time password

As per statistics with the tax department, only 6 crore people file income tax returns at present

 

Individuals struggling to link their permanent account number (PAN) with Aadhaar because of differently spelt names can now simply upload a scanned copy of PAN to get the work done.

Besides, the tax department is planning to introduce an option on the e-filing portal through which taxpayers can choose to link the Aadhaar without changing the name by opting for a one-time password (OTP), provided that the year of birth of the person matches in both the documents. With the linking of PAN with Aadhaar being made mandatory, people can log on to e-filing website of the income tax department or NSDL but the seeding cannot happen if the name is differently spelt in the two cards — like the use of the full name in PAN and initials in Aadhaar.

In such cases, the government has allowed a simple uploading of a scanned copy of PAN on the Aadhaar website. The tax department will start educating taxpayers from this week through media outreach on ways to link the PAN with Aadhaar, an official said.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had through amendment to the tax proposals in the Finance Bill of the Budget for 2017-18, had made Aadhaar mandatory for filing income tax returns and provided for linking of PAN with Aadhaar to curb tax evasion through use of multiple PAN cards.

The e-filing portal has already activated a functionality of linking PAN with Aadhaar. Around 1.08 crore assessees have already Aadhaar-linked PAN but the number is abysmally low as there are over 25 crore PAN card holders in the country, while Aadhaar has been issued to 111 crore people.| (read more)